MA Fashion Photography

For our students coming from a non-UK educational background, UCA has launched an Integrated International Pre-Masters year. 

On this course you’ll prepare for postgraduate study with a mix of online and face-to-face learning that will give you the study skills required to complete a Master’s, and you’ll also improve your English for academic study.

You'll be introduced to the University and the technical workshops and facilities available to you. The first term includes a range of lectures and seminars and you’ll start to explore your creative practice.

Contemporary Debates and Creative Enquiry
This unit introduces you to a range of research methods and tools appropriate to an advanced level of study in creative disciplines as well as outlining key issues and debates in contemporary visual and material culture. It is designed to enable the use of advanced study skills to prepare you for the development of your MA body of work within the context of fashion photography.

Innovating Practice
This unit is concerned with the exploration and innovation of creative practice in order to inform the critical, conceptual, visual and professional development of the body of work you'll produce during the MA. The unit provides a structured framework to encourage you to speculate, take risks and experiment with the potential of approaches, methods, ideas and themes in contemporary fashion photography and its commercial contexts for their own project.

During term two you begin developing your MA project, evaluating and testing out the aims of your proposal over a sustained period of self-directed study.

Project Development and Industry Placements
In this unit, you'll develop the core of your body of work for your MA over a sustained period of self-directed study as you begin to work more independently as a creative image maker. The development of the body of work will be guided and questioned by industry mentors and through tutorials, group critiques and presentations with staff, fellow students and professional practitioners.

Project Development
In this unit, you'll develop the core of your body of work for your MA over a sustained period of self-directed study, as you begin to work more independently as a creative image maker. The development of the body of work will be guided and questioned by industry mentors and through tutorials, group critiques and presentations with staff, fellow students and professional practitioners.

In the third term of the course, you'll apply the knowledge gained through your research to create a final body of work.

Creative Resolution and Implementation
In this unit, you'll continue to be guided by industry mentors and through tutorials, group critiques and presentations with staff, fellow students and professional practitioners. You'll apply and develop the knowledge gained through your research and practice in the Unit ‘Project Development and Industry Placements’ or ‘Project Development’ to resolve and disseminate your final body of work and start to develop and implement your career plan. In this final part of the MA you'll acquire the ability to refine, produce, complete and start to disseminate your body of work, which you'll firmly place within the context of the fashion industry. The final outcome, be it still and/or moving image, should reflect the ambition of your body of work and career aspirations in terms of scale and complexity, becoming a significant step towards moving into employment in the fashion photography industry.

Tuition fees - 2023 entry

UK students:

• Integrated Pre-Masters course - £10,500
• MA course - £10,500

EU students:

• Integrated International Pre-Masters course - £10,500 (see fee discount information)
• MA course - £10,500 (see fee discount information)

International students:

• Integrated International Pre-Masters course (30 weeks) - £17,500
• Integrated International Pre-Masters course (15 weeks) - £8,750
• MA course - £17,500

Further information
For more detailed information about our course fees and any financial support you may be entitled to please see our fees and finance pages.

The fees listed here are correct for the stated academic year only. Costs may increase each year during a student’s period of continued registration on course in line with inflation (subject to any maximum regulated tuition fee limit). Any adjustment for continuing students will be at or below the RPI-X forecast rate.

Financial support

There are lots of ways you can access additional financial support to help you fund your studies - both from UCA and from external sources.

Discover what support you might qualify for please see our financial support information

UCA scholarships and fee discounts

At UCA we have a number of scholarships and fee discounts available to assist you with the cost of your studies.

You'll find everything you need to know for your level of study on our scholarships page.

Additional course costs

In addition to the tuition fees there may be other costs for your course. The things that you are likely to need to budget for to get the most out of a creative arts education will include books, printing costs, occasional or optional study trips and/or project materials.

These costs will vary according to the nature of your project work and the individual choices that you make. Please see the Additional Course Costs section of your Course Information for details of the costs you may incur.

Our postgraduate degree prepares you for your career through professional practice units, talks by visiting artists and portfolio reviews with figures from across the photographic industry. Career opportunities include:

• Freelance photography
• Fine art
• Fashion
• Advertising and editorial
• Post production/digital imaging
• Picture editing and research
• Curating
• Image, arts and community arts management
• Gallery administration.

Graduates of MA Photography have gone on to win the Jerwood Photography prize; to exhibit their work in The Photographers' Gallery, Photofusion, ArtSway and the Geffyre Museum as well as publishing their outputs in different venues ranging from The Sunday Times Magazine to monographs with Dewi Lewis Publishing.

We also encourage you to apply to national and international competitions and residencies. Recent graduates have met with success at the PhotoforumPasquArt in Switzerland and Emergent Lleida, Spain. Alumni have also gone on to study for PhDs and to teach in many different national and international institutions at a range of levels.

Our course provides an excellent platform for you to connect with your subject, or to further your teaching career at an advanced level. It also helps prepare you for progression to an MPhil or PhD.

MA course

• A good honours degree or equivalent qualification in a related discipline
  
  

and/or

• Relevant work experience, demonstrating your ability to study at postgraduate level.
  
  

Consideration will also be given to applicants who can make a strong case for admission in relation to a particular project and can demonstrate their potential to satisfactorily complete the course.

Portfolio requirements

For this course we will need to see your portfolio for review. We’ll invite you to attend an Applicant Day so you can have your portfolio review in person, meet the course team and learn more about your course. Further information will be provided once you have applied.

MA course

The entry requirements for this course will depend on the country your qualifications are from, please check the equivalent qualifications for your country:

• Non-UK equivalent qualifications

Any additional entry requirements listed in the UK requirements section, e.g., subject requirements, work experience or professional qualifications, also apply to international applicants applying with equivalent qualifications.

Portfolio requirements

For this course we will need to see your portfolio for review. We’ll invite you to attend an Applicant Day so you can have your portfolio review in person, meet the course team and learn more about your course. Further information will be provided once you have applied.

MA course with Integrated International Pre-Masters course

• A recognised bachelor degree or 3 year diploma with a strong portfolio in a relevant subject.

Any additional entry requirements listed in the UK requirements section, e.g., subject requirements, work experience or professional qualifications, also apply to international applicants applying with equivalent qualifications.

Portfolio requirements

For this course we will need to see your portfolio for review. We’ll invite you to attend an Applicant Day so you can have your portfolio review in person, meet the course team and learn more about your course. Further information will be provided once you have applied.

English language requirements

To study at UCA, you'll need to have a certain level of English language skill. And so, to make sure you meet the requirements of your course, we ask for evidence of your English language ability, please chcek the level of English language required:

• English language requirements